Naomi Lee's time as an elite gymnast at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) was a harrowing experience.
WARNING: This story contains details readers may find distressing.
"I was verbally, mentally, physically and sexually abused between the ages of 11 and 14," she said.
"This started on my second week, I remember that day very clearly because I was doing chin-ups and I was told that I wasn't doing it right and that I was an idiot and stupid and that I should do 10,000.
"When I tried to explain that my elbow was hurting, I was bellowed at that I was lying."
The physical and mental impacts have remained long after she left the AIS, so it has been freeing to become the first gymnast to receive compensation from the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) for the psychological harm she suffered while at the institute.
"Having someone take accountability and go, 'yeah I'm sorry this isn't your fault, we failed you', it's really just taken a weight off my shoulders," she said.
Belittled 'many times a day, many times a session'
Ms Lee's natural ability and dedication saw her earn an AIS scholarship when she was 11, but the hardline treatment from the coaches left her scarred.
"There was wandering hands and not listening to our bodies when we were physically in pain," she said.
"They had a common saying, 'if you're standing then you're not injured and if you're not standing you're still not injured, you're lying, just get up and keep going'.
"I had a shoulder reconstruction when I was 13 years old because I was made to train through my shoulder which was dislocating every time I lifted my arm [to shoulder height] on bars, because they said I was lying about my injury.
"You could hear it dislocating."
Ms Lee said the gymnasts were also constantly yelled at and belittled by coaches.
"It was many times a day, many times a session, very much in your face.
"The thing that I really remember was that you'd be bellowed at that you were stupid, fat, a waste of space, you were worthless, you would never amount to anything and it was always finished with a, 'but don't worry, be happy', in a non-yelling voice and it really messed with me."
Coaches also kept a close eye on the gymnasts' eating habits and weight, banning food like bananas because they were deemed to have too much sugar.
"Our diet was very vigorously monitored, so were our skin folds, where they measure the amount of fat under your skin, and our weight — that was done before and after training sessions," she said.
"It had an extreme mental cost, I have teammates to this day who are still suffering from bulimia."
Parents were not allowed inside the sessions but, when told what was going on by their daughter, Ms Lee's parents wrote a letter of complaint.
"The response they got was this is how we train elite athletes," she said.
After three years in the scholarship program, Ms Lee left the AIS but later continued in elite gymnastics.
'No care or concern for the girls' mental wellbeing'
In 2020, the Netflix documentary Athlete A was released, detailing the Larry Nassar scandal in which hundreds of US gymnasts were sexually abused.
The public's outrage over the scandal gave Australian gymnasts the chance to speak out about the abuse they had suffered.
Solicitor Lisa Kinder from legal firm Donaldson Law said that when she spoke to the women, she realised the extent of the damage they had suffered as a result of their experiences at the AIS.
"There's a whole range of psychological injuries, from eating disorders to depressive disorders and a lot of anxiety disorders," Ms Kinder said.
"Even something as simple as having a glass of water, many tell us that they still now to this day as adults count the number of sips that they take because they're so conditioned to controlling and restricting every type of fluid or substance that goes into their bodies for fear of what's going to show up on the scales.
"The AIS basically gave free rein to the coaches to achieve results at any cost, that type of mentality, so there was no care or concern for the girls' mental wellbeing at all."
The law firm approached the AIS's governing body, the Australian Sports Commission (ASC), to ask whether it would be prepared to set up a process where the girls suffering permanent psychological harm from their AIS experience could be compensated.
The ASC agreed to mediation, which ensured the gymnasts did not have to be cross-examined in court.
"Some of the practices and the things that did occur within the AIS for scholarship holders have caused harm and were unacceptable," said ASC chief executive Kieren Perkins.
"We want everybody who engages with us to know that we take full responsibility for what has historically occurred."
The legal process took two years, but compensation was eventually agreed upon. It also included a face-to-face apology from the sports commission, which Ms Lee said was helpful.
"To have someone actually take that weight off you and say, 'I'm really sorry, this is on us', it really made a world of difference."
The ABC understands Ms Lee is the first AIS gymnast to receive compensation from the ASC. She said it has helped her start to move on.
"I feel almost the most relaxed that I've felt in 15 years," she said.
"I've got a really long path to go still, but I've been able to close the door and move on from that section of my life.
"I feel much more whole and like I can move on because the experiences I went through are now going to protect someone else."
